West Florida High's big "Fish" provides leadership, levity

Adarius McWilliams is rarely serious off the field, but on the field he's a big fish in a small pond.
Brian Achatz

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West Florida High defensive lineman Adarius 'Fish' McWilliams is a 2017 PNJ Super Senior who has made a verbal commitment to play for the University of Alabama-Birmingham.(Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)Buy Photo

Adarius "Fish" McWilliams is a popular topic of discussion around West Florida High School — in the hallways and in the locker room.

One one hand, he's a jokester. On the other, he's as dominant of a defensive lineman as you'll find in the panhandle and headed to play for Division I, bowl-bound Alabama-Birmingham next season.

But spend a few minutes in his presence off the field, and you might be questioning every word he speaks while wondering if it's a joke or serious statement.

His teammates tell countless stories of the 6-foot-1, 284-pound defensive tackle — ranging from his lack of video games skills, to Darius Washington's account of McWilliams eating dirt as a first baseman on their Little League baseball team.

They will talk about the nickname, Fish, and how it is an abbreviated version of "fish sandwich," which was bestowed upon McWilliams in his first season of youth football after he frequently arrived to practice eating a fish sandwich.

His love for eating is commonly known, and West Florida coach Rhett Summerford has used meals as an incentive for workouts and competitions multiple times during West Florida's District 1-5A championship season ... particularly fueling a fire for McWilliams, a PNJ Super Senior.

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2017 Super Senior football player - Adarius McWilliams - West Florida High School . Wednesday, August 9, 2017.(Photo: Gregg Pachkowski/gregg@pnj.com)

West Florida (9-1), the top seed in 1-5A, opens the state playoffs hosting Tallahassee Rickards (5-4) on Friday. Rickards eliminated West Florida in the regional semifinals last season.

"He likes to eat," Summerford said. "He will work to get to go out and eat. This summer we had a competition where we broke the whole program down into 12 teams. The winners got taken out for a nice dinner. Fish's team won and he was the first to remind me to pay up.

"He is goofy ... but he is a great kid. If you need somebody that you can count on, he is the one. He's been that way since he got here. He's a special person and I'm proud he represents our school wherever he goes."

Williams and Washington, an offensive lineman with offers from South Alabama and Cincinnati, go head-to-head every practice. With Washington, McWilliams shares a friendship dating back to middle school. The duo have their fair share of laughs but are no-nonsense on the practice field and have an iron-sharpens-iron mentality.

"Fish and I have always been cool," Washington said. "We love to compete and it's always one of us or both of us getting better. Fish is a leader on the field. He makes sure everyone does their jobs while he excels at what he does.

"But he's just a goofy person."

Washington isn't the only offensive lineman McWilliams has bonded with.

"It makes it fun it practice. But I think he will be a good player in college," right guard Taylor Williams said. "He is already a great player all-around. He's quick, strong and smart.

"But, he's over at my house trying to eat all my food. He's always selling out playing Madden even though I beat him every time."

McWilliams has also developed a reputation for keeping cool under pressure — part of what he sees as developing into not just a big-time player, but a big-time leader.

"I can't see why somebody would be mad, " McWilliams said."I'm just a cool person and I like to keep everybody's spirits up. I don't see how you can be mad all the time. If you're mad, probably the next person around you will start getting mad. I know I'm someone the guys look up to, so if they see me down they will probably feed off my emotion."

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2017 Super Senior football player - Adarius McWilliams - West Florida High School . Wednesday, August 9, 2017.(Photo: Gregg Pachkowski/gregg@pnj.com)

And while the dirt-eating, poor-video game playing persona is all in fun, McWilliams' skill and tireless work ethic has been questioned by none.

McWilliams has been a four-year varsity starter for West Florida, and though defensive tackles are rarely stat-producing machines, he finished the regular season with 34 tackles, six sacks and two forced fumbles.

West Florida's defense has been key this season and leads the area, allowing opponents to an average of 15 points per game. His play earned him 12 Division I offers, including Tulane, Kent State and Florida Atlantic.

His timing is sharp to join UAB next season, as the Blazers became bowl eligible last Saturday with a win over Rice. Following a two-year hiatus where the football program was dormant, UAB is in second place in the Conference USA West Division and is undefeated at home.

"I used to watch UAB players highlights a couple years ago on YouTube," McWilliams said. "I didn't hear much from them before spring, but around that time a lot of their coaches started following me on Twitter and I knew something good was about to happen. I just really like the program at UAB .. they are on the rise."

But before he even thinks about touching down in Birmingham for college football, McWilliams and the West Florida Jaguars have pertinent business to attend to.

Like Friday night, and avenging last year's loss to Rickards, which also bounced West Florida from the playoffs in 2015.

"I just want everyone to come to the game Friday," McWilliams said. "Third time is the charm."